“We are Motörhead and we play rock ‘n’ roll” was the typical introductory greeting frontman and bassist Lemmy would greet any audience with, whether an arena full of loyal, greasy-haired headbangers at a headline show or an afternoon slot on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival ’15. Straddling that line of speed-snorted thrash and NWOBHM hard rock that saw the band embraced by the punks yet also ensuring their Snaggletooth logo was proudly emblazoned on every metalhead’s sleeveless denim, Motörhead’s elude of tribal rivalries were all down to the undiluted pursuit of the universal and eternal magic of RnR.

Rock’s back, so say Research Reactor Corp. While tongues may be firmly in cheek when making such proclamations on Instagram, RRC and C.O.F.F.I.N. drummer Ben Portnoy certainly has an authentic love for the raw energy of rock ‘n’ roll, as Lemmy defined at least. Teaming up with members of Stiff Richards and Cutters, Rye trio Polute has tagged ‘Motorhead’ and ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ on their debut Bandcamp release as a sincere signifier of what they’re about: “Fast” Eddie Clarke style riffing smothered in Aussie garage punk that could only have come out of Melbourne. Their namesake EP title Polute further encapsulates their sound; one misspell away from ‘pollute’ and also Bulgarian for ‘go crazy’ (полуте).

Written in one jam and recorded in three hours, Polute is a pure exercise in ephemeral potency and raucous urgency. The frenzied percussion that opens Motörhead’s ‘Overkill’ is given homage on EP opener ‘Dirty Swig’, Portnoy conjuring Phil “Philty Animal” Taylor’s speed drumming coupled with some of the most putrid vocals celebrating inebriation ever snarled (at least that’s what can be discerned from his rancid howl). Arron Mawson’s guitar attack on ‘Stoned Rider’ feels even more affectionately lifted from classic British heavy metal combined with a lyrical bellow detouring into Venom’s cavernous proto-black metal, while ‘Ocean Breaker’ (curiously only featured on their Spotify stream) jumps into dirty grunge hardcore with the faintest touch of Nirvana’s ‘Big Long Now’ on the EP’s closing track. ‘Where Dogs Go To Die’ points beyond its title to the universe of low-life fetor that the Polute boys inhabit: street metal strut that smells of stale sweat, Victoria Bitter, and Eddie Clarke’s propped-up corpse.

“I can’t do it” sighed Lemmy in 2015, giving up on stage after three songs at Emo’s Austin, to be one of their final gigs before his death that December and which happened to include Portnoy and the rest of C.O.F.F.I.N., along with NJ skate punk Reckless Randy, in the audience. Like a serendipitous passing of the torch, Polute has harnessed the universal RnR magic and instilled it with the unique manic energy only heard in Melbourne garage punk, reaching crude yet exhilarating heights of thrash speed that would do Mr Kilmister proud.